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Street Talk Newsletter

Stress Matters

by Sgt. Sally Panzer

In part one of this series, Battling Stigma, we covered what stigma is, the barriers it creates, and the myths surrounding it. In this part of the series, we’ll address stress and its role not only in our job, but our health as well. Here are a few important things to remember about stress:

It can be both good and bad. It’s our body’s natural reaction to changes in demand, whether the demand is physical, emotional or both. It is meant to protect us!

It’s a part of our daily lives in varying degrees.

It can affect every aspect of our lives: emotional, physical, spiritual and mental.

There are ways to manage it. Yes, you heard it here first…we can manage our stress!

Remember the jitters you got before exams or the butterflies in your stomach before a performance? A first date? What about riding a roller coaster? Foot pursuit or car pursuit? That is all good stress! It is thrilling and exciting. Good stress helps us perform better, be more motivated, focused and alert. There are even health benefits to good stress. It boosts our immune system and makes our cardiovascular and muscular systems stronger.

Good stress pushes us. It makes us stronger and more resilient. It helps us thrive. It takes us out of our comfort zone, giving us an opportunity to learn and grow, but it doesn’t overwhelm us. We can still think clearly and rationally, and make good decisions.

Bad stress, or distress, creates reactions similar to good stress. We get excited and have a sense of thrill, but there is a perceived threat that changes the overall tone of the stress. At some point, the distress becomes overwhelming, and our ability to function is depleted. The thing about bad stress is that it is detrimental to our health. In this sense, stress is outside of our normal coping mechanisms, leaving us with a sense of threat to our safety. There are three kinds of bad stress: acute, episodic acute and chronic.

Acute stress is the most common and is short-lived. This is the kind of stress you get from being involved in a fender bender, missing a work deadline, or even hearing about your child’s problem behavior at school. Acute stress is common, but highly manageable.

Episodic Acute stress can sometimes be thought of as the classic “Type A” personality. Everything must be perfect; everything is in a rush. Type A personality folks often have lives that are quite disordered because of the choices they made, and they appear to be the star in the movie Chaos. Typically, they will appear to have a lot of nervous energy or be the “worrywarts” of the family.

Chronic stress is long-term. It is not thrilling or exciting; it’s grinding. It grinds a person down and wreaks havoc over the long haul. Chronic stress is something people get used to because it is always there, unlike acute or episodic stress. Chronic stress is the killer. It kills our motivation, our drive and our body, mind and soul. It is fatal because it kills through suicide, violence, heart attacks and strokes.

In law enforcement, just as in everyday life, we feel and experience stress. There is stress in our personal and in our professional lives. Some of that stress is good; some of it not so good; some of it is a recipe for disaster. The science behind it tells all.

When we experience stress, the brain signals the amygdala to dump a wonderful little hormonal cocktail into our system. It doesn’t matter what kind of stress; it is the body’s natural physiological reaction to stress. The cocktail has three main components: adrenaline, oxytocin and cortisol. Adrenaline rockets us into survival mode: fight, flight or freeze. Oxytocin is a cute little hormone that gets us feeling all cuddly. It is lovingly known as the cuddle hormone because people like to give and get hugs. It makes us feel good and safe. Now let’s talk about this little bugger known as cortisol. This little blighter is not fun, and despite having good uses, can also be pretty destructive.

Cortisol stays in our system for 18 to 24 hours. Too much of a good thing is a bad thing, and that’s where the rub lies. As law enforcement officers, we are in an almost constant state of stress to varying degrees. We are on alert, ready to act with constant vigilance. We drive from one call to the next, mingling with varying amounts of stress based upon the call. We are getting that lovely little cocktail more often than we should and not getting an opportunity to get it out of our system. All that cortisol is unhealthy.

Chronic stress can lead to burnout. Burnout is caused by long-term excessive stress that causes us to be in a perpetual state of emotional, physical and mental exhaustion. It truly means you feel empty, devoid of emotion and beyond caring. Cynicism, lethargy, apathy, lack of sleep, withdrawal, isolation and hostility are just some of the signs.

Evidence-based research has shown that too much cortisol can cause heart disease, stroke, diabetes, weight gain (decreased metabolism), high blood pressure (hypertension), arthritis, decreased immune efficiency, depression, chronic fatigue and hostility just to name a few. So, what can we do to help ourselves? What can we do to manage our stress so that we maintain healthy lives?

Stress Relievers are simple ways to fight stress and things we can easily do every day.

Eat healthy more often.

Exercise – i.e. just go for a walk.

Set healthy boundaries.

Get enough “good” sleep – yes, I said “good” sleep.

Be mindful.

Meditate – don’t be a hater, just give it a go.

Take time out for you and your family – it’s not worth it without them.

Laugh.

Get outside and enjoy nature!

Just breathe!

Remember, if you feel you might have burnout or are getting close to it, reach out for a mental health professional to help you. The earlier it is observed, the easier it is to treat.

Sgt. Sally Panzer, in her 19th year with the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, has spent 16 years as a hostage/crisis negotiator. She has been involved with CIT since 2003. In 2017, Sgt. Panzer moved into the newly-created, full-time position of CIT and Officer Wellness Coordinator. She is a national speaker on the topics of officer wellness and the prevention of law enforcement suicide. Sgt. Panzer serves on the Major City Chiefs’ Suicide Prevention and Wellness Task Force Committee, and is dedicated to saving lives and bettering others who need and want help.